The Kinetic King, kinetic artist: Piers decided to bring KK back even though his Top 48 performance went extremely wrong. Would he be able to redeem himself or would he confirm that he is indeed the biggest loser of AGT as the King said himself during his Top 48 performance? This week, the Kinetic King proved why he is the King. His display contained many different pieces: cans, sticks, string, balls, garbage cans, a banner, and balloons. He also improved from last time: he planned every single thing — he even checked weather websites! — and he was the one who set the kinetic display in motion. It went flawlessly and was quite impressive. The crowd and the three judges gave the King a standing ovation. Even though the Kinetic King was amazing during his Wild Card performance, he might not get enough votes because his act couldn’t really headline a show due to the amount of time it takes to set up each display.
Those Funny Little People, variety act: Howie wasted one of his picks by bringing TFLP back. They are NOT funny! They are a cute kids act but because their routines are way too basic and the lipsynching, their act is not worth a million dollars. The only good they serve on AGT is to make fun of Piers. They Arabian Nights-themed performance was so not entertaining that the only thing Sharon liked was the camel, which was not an official TFLP member! America, please don’t vote for them.
Avery and the Calico Hearts, singers: Sharon brought back these three little ladies with great voices. They performed they own version of Taio Cruz’s “Dynamite.” Their performance was cute and fun to watch but their singing was a bit off key at times. Piers, who buzzed them, was right again this week when saying that Avery and the Calico Hearts are not ready yet for such a competition but that when their voices will mature and when they’ll have more stage expereince, they’ll be terrific!
Seth Grable, magician: Howie offered Seth a second chance to impress us. Sadly for Seth, his trick was overshadowed by the mini judges that came out of the Dolorean he made appear on stage. It’s not the first time we see the “car appearing on stage” act but having a Back to the Future Dolorean appear made this trick extra fun. However, the first part of the trick during which Seth twirled around in a giant ring was way too long and didn’t fit that well with the Dolorean. See for yourself in the clip below.
Shevonne, singer: Many of us when “Shevonne who?” last week when Nick announced which acts were coming back for the Wild Card show. As it was confirmed tonight, Shevonne was one of the acts who didn’t make it to the Top 48, thus explaining why we didn’t know much about her. This meant that she had extra pressure this week as it was the first time she had the chance to perform on an AGT live show. Despite being a bit pichy at times, Shevonne rocked the house with a passionnate performance. Howie and Piers both agreed that they made a mistake during the Vegas Hell Week and that Shevonne should have been sent to the Top 48. All three judges loved this unique and distinctive singer. Shevonne was one of Sharon’s picks.
West Springfield Dance Team, dancers: As Sharon announced during last week’s live results show, she picked the WSDT for the Wild Card show. This week, the dancers performed a Batman-inspired routine and their costume was a scary version of the Joker. The routine was entertaining and some moves were pretty cool but they still didn’t have enough “wow” in their performance. Howie and Piers didn’t think that their performance this week was better than last week’s. Sharon, as expected, backed the WSDT up and said that they are unique and different.
J. Chris Newberg, comedian: Not surprisingly, Howie brought comedian J. Chris Newberg back. The comedian raised up the bar by roasting Piers instead of singing a funny song. As Sharon pointed out, J. Chris has balls of steel as some of the jokes he made were quite provoking like the very first one he made about phone hacking — referring to Piers being questioned as to if he was involved in the News of the World phone hacking scandal. Almost every single joke J. Chris made tonight were quite funny. Sample: “You’re ratings were so bad that I heard Jay Leno would take over.” They were so spot on that Piers had a very hard time not laughing but couldn’t help himself near the end. This was J. Chris’ best performance on the show. Howie and Sharon loved it. Piers said that he found the material offensive, innacurate, and innapropriate … and funny!!! If you haven’t seen J. Chris roast Piers, you must watch the clip below!
Yellow Design Stunt Team, acrobatics: The theme this week was pirates. Again this week, the team offered a solid performance but one of their members fell at one point. However, as Piers pointed, when someone falls in such an act, it almost makes the act even more entertaining as it shows how dangerous it is. Some of the tricks were amazing but the dancers were taking too much of the stage and distracted from what the Yellow Design Stunt Team was doing. All three judges loved the performance and the fact that the team makes their BMX stunts entertaining by adding a theme and a story.
Charles Peachock, juggler: Charles promised a dangerous act in his pre-performance segment. He did deliver on this promise as he juggled a chainsaw and balls set on fire as well as swords. Sadly, he dropped his props once which ruined the performance. The only reason why Piers didn’t X Charles is because the juggler was one of Piers’ Wild Card picks. All three judges mentioned that they felt bad for Charles as he blew it. Charles’ nerves got the best of him.
The Fiddleheads, bluegrass band: This week, the band performed “Grenade” by Bruno Mars. This performance was closer to what they offered us in auditions than their Top 48 performance. The singer was a bit off key at times but, overall, the performance was entertaining. Howie and Sharon enjoyed the performance. Piers didn’t and he had a hard time explaining himself as the crowd and the two other judges kept booing him. Piers, who Xed the Fiddleheads near the end of their performance, said that he doesn’t think the group works as a group. He added that the lead singer is good and shouldn’t be with that group. It’s not the first time Piers makes such a suggestion — just this season, he told it to the lead singer of Poplyfe.
Summerwind Skippers, jump rope team: Piers is the one who brought the skippers back for a second chance. The first part of their act was impressive but they got caught in the ropes at some point. They raised the bar extremely high when they did something I have never seen skippers do before: set their ropes on fire! WOW is the only thing we could say about the last part of their act. All three judges agreed that this was a great performance despite the mishap.
Landon Swank, magician: When compared to what Seth Grabel offered this week, Landon came out winning this duel of the magicians. Landon’s stage setting was simple, efficient, and dramatic, which helped us focus on the trick. He flawlessly performed the “magician trying to escape from a box filled with water” trick. Sharon and Howie said it was fabulous. Piers was proud to have brought Landon back. See his amazing trick in the clip below.
My four picks to go on to the semi-finals are: Seth Grabel, Shevonne, Landon Swank and J. Chris Newberg. I can’t believe that I’m giving J. Chris a vote but he did deliver the goods this week and showed that he can do more than his not-aways-that-funny comedic songs. What are your picks?
Clacked by Isabelle Carreau 
on Aug 17, 2011 @ 00:20 EST5EDT
